Facility for high-speed particle impact testing

Abstract
This article describes an erosion test facility which is based on exploding‐foil and exploding‐wire technology. The large controllable energy released by exploding foils and exploding wires is utilized to launch 100–8000 μ particles to velocities ranging from 250 to 7000 m/sec. Specific features which are unique to the facility are the high degree of aiming accuracy, high‐speed framing photography of the particle in flight, and the use of simple, expendable launch assemblies to provide a low cost, flexible, and reliable method for obtaining small‐particle impact data.